11th
Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 17, 2018
I
–I have lifted high the lowly tree.
R
–Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.
II
– Whether we are at home or away, we aspire to please the Lord.
A
– The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower. All who come to him will
live forever.
G –It
is the smallest of all seeds, and becomes the largest of plants.
+ It is no accident that the readings today are about green and
growing things, during
this “green and growing season of the year.” It is easier to understand
planting and pruning and growth when it is happening right outside our windows!
The main point of the readings
is that the seed that is planted, or the
sprout that is transplanted is the WORD OF GOD! God determined that we
needed to hear a few things to ensure our steady progress towards him, and so
he spoke one ENORMOUS WORD: and that gigantic word was WORD, the word was SON,
the word became JESUS, the word was REDEEMER; the WORD became FLESH!
It behooved God through Jesus
to speak this word as loudly and clearly as he could so that all the earth could hear it, men and women on every
continent: and this he did by training a group of “word-bearers”
“gospel-preachers” and then sending them out filled with the fire and
persuasive power of the Holy Spirit. Men and women who were within listening
range would have no excuse for at least not hearing this gospel: this was true
in the olden days when it was done by word of mouth; but in this electronic
age, this digital, internet age: it is even easier to get the word out, but
also, having it out there, it can even more easily be ignored as it comes with
a barrage of daily emails, tweets, text messages and phone calls and chatter!
The
Church is truly meant to be a gathering place for all mankind (as
the image of the tiny seed grown to a huge embracing tree demonstrates), and
all of mankind with its various parts and pieces of true reality ought to feel itself magnetically drawn to the center of it all, the heart and true
home manifested as Catholic Church.
This is the Kingdom of God
that we are all invited to, this is the Kingdom that will become a reality,
when all of the kicking and screaming, and foot-dragging has ceased, and the multitudes
will scratch their heads and say: so, this is what it is all about, this
peace, this harmony, this joy, this beauty, this justice – what was I thinking?
why did I hesitate? why did I try to run away from this?:
and
God our loving Father will smile, nod his head and say, “O yes, my precocious
little children, this is what I had in mind all along – what took you so long
to agree to participate in it? – but hey, I am glad you are here, get out your
best clothes, put on your finest jewels and come to the great feast that I have
longed to share with you!”
The
Word that Jesus spoke all along is LOVE: love is all there is: what we do here
in this Mass celebrates love, what we take from here makes love in the world a
reality: may we do always as Jesus commanded and love, love, love!
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